Author Archives: Eric T. Berkman

Residents opposed to a proposed development in their neighborhood could be required to post a $20,000 bond in order to challenge the variance that Boston’s zoning board of appeal issued for the project, a Housing Court judge has held. Though ...

A letter sent by a collection agency to a Chapter 13 debtor that contained a heading resembling the title of a court case violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has found. The letter, ...

The manufacturer of a surgical guide wire that broke and was left inside a patient’s heart during surgery could be held liable under a res ipsa loquitur theory, a U.S. District Court judge has determined. Res ipsa loquitur applies when ...

An exam that police departments in Boston and elsewhere used to determine which officers to advance to sergeant was valid despite the fact that it resulted in the promotion of disproportionately fewer minority applicants, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of ...

The Civil Service Commission erred by upholding the termination of a police officer for “conduct unbecoming” without properly evaluating whether the town’s failure to terminate another officer several years earlier for arguably worse conduct constituted favoritism, a Superior Court judge ...

A putative class action filed in Superior Court under the federal Securities Act of 1933 should not have been removed to federal court, a U.S. District Court judge has decided. Federal and state courts have concurrent jurisdiction over cases brought ...

A federal magistrate judge in Virginia lacked jurisdiction to issue a warrant to deploy a computer hacking tool that enabled the government to identify a Massachusetts man as a user of an online child-pornography site, a U.S. District Court judge ...

A corporate executive who accepted money from a friend’s charitable foundation to purchase company stock for himself in return for his promise to split the proceeds with the foundation when he sold it, and then repeatedly ignored requests to sell ...

Prosecutors and defense attorneys alike say they are concerned that a Superior Court judge’s recent order in an assault and battery case could lead to judges in Massachusetts making sentencing decisions based on “data-driven” analysis. Earlier this month, Judge John ...

A technology company that breached its state contract by falsely certifying it had paid its subcontractors on time could not recover damages from the project owner for allegedly withholding payment for completed work, a Superior Court judge in the Business ...